Family cops $283 fine after moving car to higher ground during floods
A family from the flood-hit Hunter region in NSW were devastated to receive a parking fine after moving their car to higher ground.
Last week, Amber Evans' backyard was flooded due to the excessive rain. She told 9News the water was two inches from coming inside their home.
Not wanting to move their car back to the gutter which was also inundated with water, Ms Evans and her husband decided to move their car to higher ground on the median strip.
The next day, the family found they had been fined $283 for parking their car on the median strip while the disaster unfolded in the Hunter region.
"Any other day of the week I could understand but we were parked there to save our car from being flooded," Ms Evans told 9News.
It was the second-worst flooding on record in the Hunter region where several towns such as Maitland and Singleton were inundated.
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Ms Evans found it disheartening that Cessnock City Council issued the fine during the flood event, which was stressful enough for her family.
She explained her children had been evacuated and the septic tank was underwater, though luckily the water didn't creep inside.
Cessnock City Council said in a statement to 9News that the ranger who issued the fine was unaware the street the Evans' lived on had flooded the day before the fine was issued.
The council has advised Revenue NSW that a caution should be issued instead of a fine.
However, Ms Evans said this could still impact her husband, who will have to cop the caution, which will leave a mark on his licence.
"It's not about getting the fine taken away, it is the fact this shouldn't be happening," she said.
"During a flood event, a natural disaster, it wasn't the time to be out fining people whose cars were on higher ground."
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